672 NOTES ON NEUROPTERA, 



formed the Genus Ejnbia, now typical of the family, in 1825, 

 briefly dismissing it with the following remark, " Voisin du 

 precedent (Termes) mais a antennes differentes." Westwood 

 defined the family in 1837, and gave the characters of the genera, 

 describing the two known species Emhia savignii, Latr., which 

 the author described from a specimen first figured in Savignj^'s 

 great work,* and another that he called Oligotoma saundersi, from 

 India, discarding Grey's genus Olyntha as a synonym of Emhia. 

 Lucas described the next species from Algeria in 1849 under the 

 name of Emhia mauritanica. In 1876 M. Michael gave an 

 interesting account of the habits of an insect found upon the 

 roots of his orchids in Scotland, probably introduced with the 

 plants from India, which produced silken webs like spiders; this 

 was published in the Gardeners' Chronicle, illustrated with his 

 drawings, and some notes by Westwood. McLachlan subse- 

 quently described it scientifically after its discoverer, with two 

 other species from South America collected by Bates in 1878. 

 Wood-Mason gave an account of the life-history of Oligotoma 

 saundersi, common in India under stones, and discussed the 

 wing-structure of the insects, in 1883. In the same year 

 McLachlan described a species, collected in the roofs of the native 

 houses in Hawaii by Blackburn, under the name of Oligotoma 

 insulans; an interesting account of its life-history has since been 

 furnished by Perkins, who says it is a very common insect, the 

 males winged and the females apterous, living in silken webs 

 under bark or stones. Grassi in 1893 studied the habits and 

 anatomy of two species found under stones in Southern Europe. 

 Hagen monographed the family in 1885, recording 17 species= 



Oligotoma gurneyi, n.sp. (Plate xx., figs. 2-3.) 



Length of body 7: across outspread wings 17 mm. 



General colour dull chocolate-brown, wings variegated with 

 pale parallel lines. 



Head large, rounded, longer than broad, turned down in front; 

 eyes circular, projecting on the sides; antennae in front of the 



* Description de I'Egypte Nevropt. pi. 2, f. 9. 



